4 Most Insensitive Tweets, Statements From Democrats This Election Season

President Obama appeared on "The Daily Show with John Stewart."
Reuters

Think Republicans are the only ones who say things that are inappropriate or controversial? Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention to the Democrats and their surrogates lately.

Whether it is on national television or via social media, the president or a congressional leader, the left is just as gaffe-prone. Many of them have said some things on which they had to quickly backtrack. And the 2012 election cycle isn’t short of some of these, let’s say, pretty embarrassing moments.

Here are some of worst gaffes made by Democrats this year:

"Mitt shot his whole wad": Yep, you read that correctly, and it was a part of a tweet sent by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The full tweet, which was sent via her verified Twitter handle @EleanorNorton, has since been deleted, but it reads fully, “Mitt shot his whole wad in the first debate.” Some of the congresswoman’s constituents were caught off guard and cried shame on her.

“@EleanorNorton How is it possible you are member of Congress?! Absolutely disgraceful. As one of your constituents, I am ashamed of you,” wrote Twitter user Caleb Smith to Norton.

Another user, Kristina, reminded the congresswoman to “Keep it classy.”

Obama’s "optimal" moment: After Mitt Romney was fact-checked on Obama’s response to Benghazi by moderator Candy Crowley during Tuesday’s second presidential debate, the party needed a comeback, and they found it Friday morning. Obama appeared on “The Daily Show” on Thursday, where he responded to the follwoing comment from Jon Stewart:

"Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions? Not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happend within. Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us being on the same page."

Playing off of Stewart's use of the word "optimal," Obama responded: “If four Americans get killed, it is not optimal. And we are going to fix it.”

Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the Sept. 11 incident.

Obama’s comment was catnip to Republicans, who jumped at the opportunity to capitalize on the president’s choice of words. Sen. John McCain, whom Obama defeated in the 2008 presidential election run, told “Fox & Friends” that he was saddened by what Obama said.

“The 'optimal' line, of course, is very regrettable and makes me a little sad,” McCain said on “Fox & Friends.” “But for him to say that every piece of information that they got they laid out to the American people, it’s one of the most disingenuous statements I’ve ever heard.”

"Why aren’t they speaking English? #Asians": Kelly Steele, an adviser for Washington Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell’s reelection campaign, had to offer a big-time apology for this tweet. Back in September at the Asian Pacific American Community Summit in Tacoma, Wash., Steele took a photo of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna while he was on stage waiting for his statements to be translated to the largely Asian gathering. Steele later posted the photo to his Twitter account with those words, calling it the “pic of the day.”

Steele admitted that his “attempt at humor was insensitive and inappropriate.”

Romney is “a racist/misogynistic t@#t": Now, actress Eva Longoria, who serves as Obama campaign co-chair, may not have written this tweet herself, but she retweeted it and caught flak for it. Celebrities often retweet fans’ comments, but perhaps Longoria should have left that one untouched.

Earlier this week, the “Desperate Housewives” star retweeted fan user @imnotyuri, who wrote to her, saying, “I have no idea why any woman/minority can vote for Romney. You have to be stupid to vote for such a racist/misogynistic tw-t.” She removed it from her time line, but conservatives and fellow Latinos did attack. Eventually, Longoria later apologized.

“I use Twitter as a platform for all Americans and their opinions. Sorry if people were offended by retweet. Obviously not my words or my personal view. I respect all Americans #FreedomOfSpeech,” Longoria tweeted.